Danish Musings
The PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer is usually a well-researched, well-presented show. It employs a librarian and Gwen Ifill keynoted the SLA Annual Conference a few years back. But someone should teach them how to pronounce Danish names. Last night they played a clip of a press conference with President Obama and NATO Secretary General (and former Prime Minister of Denmark) Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The latter was introduced as Anders Fog, when the actual pronunciation is more like Anners Foe. Couldn’t someone on staff research the correct way to say the man’s name?
Then my local television station, which puts its news snippets on Yahoo News, spelled the capital of the country as Coppenhagen, in its announcement that Michelle Obama was there to advocate for Chicago as the next Olymic venue. It’s Copenhagen, WISH TV.
Perhaps I’m overly sensitive, looking forward as I am to speaking in Denmark (Aarhus) next month at the 50th anniversary of DFID, the Danish Federation of Information Specialists. That will be the week after Internet Librarian International in London. Hope to see you in either Denmark or the UK.
Feed
Ah, Marydee, it’ll likely be a cold day a certain place before Danish pronunciation becomes a focus of attention in mainstream international media – although at this December juncture, at least “Copenhagen” is uttered a few hundred times a day! Actually, I take pity on any English speaker attempting Danish words and names … and I’d be delighted to team up with you on a special “we’ll have it rolling off your tongue in no time” consultation service for journalists and newspeople!
Comment by Ulla de Stricker — December 17, 2009 @ 5:02 pm